Low and high levels of vitamin D associated with cardiovascular deaths, study suggests

Vitamin D (polarised micrograph pictured) protect against falls and osteoporotic fractures and has various other purported health benefits but may be associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, study suggests
Low or high levels of vitamin D (polarised micrograph pictured) may be associated with cardiovascular disease mortality

Eva-Maria Pasieka/Corbis

Vitamin D protects against falls and osteoporotic fractures and has various other purported health benefits, including protection against cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. This has not been conclusively demonstrated, however.

A study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (online, 24 February 2015)[1]
 suggests that serum levels of vitamin D have a complicated, non-linear, reverse-J-shaped association with CVD mortality. Analysis of nearly 250,000 Danish patients in primary practice, followed-up for seven years, found that CVD mortality risk was lowest at a vitamin D level of 70nmol/L (the mean level for the entire cohort was 49.5nmol/L).

CVD mortality risk was significantly increased at both the lower extreme (~12.5nmol/L) and the higher extreme (~125nmol/L), with adjusted hazard ratios of 2.0 and 1.3, respectively. Whether or not the association is causal is still to be determined.

References

 [1] Durup D, Jørgensen HL, Christensen J et al. A reverse J-shaped association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and cardiovascular disease mortality — the CopD-study. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2015. doi:10.1210/jc.2014-4551

 

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Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ, 21/28 March 2015, Vol 294, No 7854/5;294(7854/5):DOI:10.1211/PJ.2015.20068137

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